Ika Aliyeva, originally from Azerbaijan, is the founder of Femigrants, based in Silicon Valley.

Photo by Iann Ivy

Femigrants is a network of nearly 3,000 female immigrant entrepreneurs and business leaders, based in Silicon Valley. Its founder, Ika Aliyeva is originally from the small city of Lankaran, Azerbaijan and now lives in the Bay Area. Femigrants—a mash-up of "female" and "immigrants"—was launched one year ago.

Although she has a contract Data Integrity Specialist position at Instagram/Facebook, Aliyeva was compelled to create Femigrants in order to help female immigrant entrepreneurs and leaders. Femigrants's first forum, Femigrants of Silicon Valley, will take place on March 22, 2018, in San Francisco.

Nina Roberts: First, how and why did you settle in the US from Azerbaijan?

Ika Aliyeva: I arrived in 2011 to get a graduate degree in social media and communications from Middle Tennessee State University. I was 30 years old, I gave up a well-paying job at an oil company to study in the US.

NR: Why?

IA:I grew up in a city where female leadership was not accepted; girls were supposed to get married by the age of 16. Fortunately, my parents wanted me to become a successful leader and supported me throughout my education, both in Azerbaijan and the US.

I wanted to study how social media platforms have impacted our lives, from finding a life partner to supporting revolutions. In fact, I wrote a paper on Facebook and Twitter’s role in the revolution in the Middle East in graduate school.

NR: How did you end up in San Francisco working for Facebook? And why launch Femigrants?

After Middle Tennessee State University, I got an internship at New America Media in San Francisco; my husband got an internship at the City and County of San Francisco. Although there are professional opportunities in San Francisco, looking for a job with no network was a challenging experience.

NR: Is that what motivated you to launch Femigrants?

IA: It was the experience of being a female immigrant, wife, mother of two kids and previously a business owner, that led me to the idea. I want to help female immigrants become successful leaders. There are various immigrant related organizations, but they are community based. I wanted to build a meaningful network of diverse women—religion, race, culture, ethnicity—where we can give and get support.

I started Femigrants alone but have been blessed with the support of volunteers, colleagues and friends at Facebook. I have a mentor, also from Azerbaijan, who is an investor and familiar with startups and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. He helped me to find the right direction to channel my passion.

NR: What types of support have you found female immigrant entrepreneurs need?

IA: Moving to a new country with a different culture, laws and rules, is not an easy process. It takes time to adapt. Mentorship and sponsorship help female immigrant entrepreneurs and professional leaders.

Mentors can share their experience and knowledge of business strategies and even office politics; analyze ideas from different perspectives. Having both mentors and sponsors helps even more. Sponsors are the people who believe in you, invest in you and actively help. Sponsors can advocate and use their capital to invest.

NR: What is your role at Facebook?

IA: I work as a contractor in the Product Data Integrity team performing quality operations for web content across Instagram and Facebook. Being a part of Facebook is a feeling beyond love, it has changed my whole life. I regained my confidence and was able to use my voice for good, all the skills I’ve learned gave me the courage to launch Femigrants.

IA: Unfortunately I can’t talk about it because I’m not an official media representative of Facebook.

NR: Back to Femigrants, how did you launch and build the network?

IA: I built the Femigrants community online, starting with 20-25 members who were close friends; today, one year later, we are nearly 3000 members nationwide. Ten volunteers help develop our platform, some have been on the team since the beginning and remain passionate.

NR: Is it a virtual and physical community?

IA: Yes. Our first big forum is Femigrants of Silicon Valley on March 22 in San Francisco.

NR: What's on the agenda, what makes the forum unique to female immigrants, entrepreneurs or otherwise?